Scolari is expected to be replaced when Brazil's tournament comes to an end after the third-place play-off with Holland on Saturday, and former Corinthians coach Tite, who led the club to a Copa Libertadores-FIFA Club World Cup double, is the favourite to succeed him.

Rebelo however has called for an inquiry into what has gone wrong with Brazilian football.

The sports minister, who had previously referred to the 1950 final defeat by Uruguay as "national tragedy", told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro: "It's a terrible blemish for Brazilian football because against Germany we have played 12 times and lost only four times.

"We must analyse the root causes of this disaster, learn the lessons and try to correct them so this doesn't happen again, so that Brazil can regain its status in world football."

Rebelo said the 1950 Brazil team were "a constellation of stars" and "much better than what we have today."

Scolari's time with the squad certainly seems to be coming to an abrupt end, and Neymar's agent Ribeiro produced a sarcastic list of "six requirements to be Brazilian coach" on his Twitter account.

These were:

"One - being Portugal Coach and winning nothing."

"Two - going to Chelsea and being sacked the following day."

"Three - going to coach in Uzbekistan."

"Four - returning to Brazil, taking over a big team [Palmeiras] and getting them relegated to the second division."

"Five - leaving the club 56 days before the end of the Brasileirao [season] to 'escape' the relegation.

"Six - being an old jerk, arrogant, repulsive, conceited and ridiculous."

Scolari's insistence that his squad were "still developing" and that most would be in the 2018 World Cup is not borne out by the facts.

Out of the current Brazil squad, only five of the 23 players will be under 30 in 2018, while 14 of the current Germany squad will still be in their 20s.

Tite is viewed as Scolari's most likely replacement, with Sao Paulo coach Muricy Ramalho and former Brazil and Real Madrid manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo also in the running.

Scolari has continued to insist his record was something to be proud of, telling a news conference on Wednesday: "It's the first time we reached a semi-final since 2002 so maybe our work wasn't so bad.

In a year and a half together we played 28 games and won 19, drew six and lost three.

"In official games we won eight, drew two and lost this one - okay, catastrophically. But this episode is over now. We must look forward.

"We have a commitment with the CBF (Brazilian FA) until the end of the World Cup.

"It is only after this we will talk with the direction of the CBF, that's when we will decide."